Stag existence bleaches Gabriel Agbonlahor a bit with Christian Benteke out injured, which of course makes this predicament no less jarring.

Even Agbonlahor hasn’t fared well independentl, proceeding scoreless through the last 19 matches where Benteke, Darren Bent or John Carew weren’t on the pitch with him. Agbonlahor, No. 1 in goals among club forwards during the past six seasons, last scored without No. 2 Carew, No. 3 Benteke or No. 4 Bent in the mix Feb. 21, 2010 against Burnley.

That drought, in part, made Bent’s absence two seasons ago the costliest among any leading scorer from the previous season who missed more than five matches. Below is the full look at all lapses –.each figure represents the shift in goals per match average from with to without the lead scorer.

–1.14 Bent (2011-2012)

-1.11 Hitchens (1959-1960)

-0.92 Ford (1949-1950)

-0.57 Dixon (1952-1953)

-0.37 Thompson (1954-1955)

-0.23 Withe (1982-1983)

-0.17 Dublin (2001-2002)

-0.14 Yorke (1992-1993)

-0.10 Evans (1987-1988)

-0.06 Dublin (2003-2004)

-0.03 Gray (1977-1978)

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LUNA-SEE

Even with his goal in the opener at Arsenal, Antonio Luna still couldn’t be blamed for desiring substantially better contribution going forward (both tactics and match flow permitting). He seemed like the second-fiddle fullback to Lowton in terms of involvement, though he is getting thicker attacking touches on the ball.

Below are comparisons between Luna and his right back component in terms of total passes and depth of yardage beyond/beneath the midline going forward.

@Arsenal

Passes: Lowton 26, Luna 18

Midline: Lowton -1, Luna -6

@Chelsea

Passes: Lowton 21, Luna 18

Midline: Luna -3, Lowton -11

vLiverpool

Passes: Luna 48, Lowton 25

Midline: Luna -2, Lowton -7

vNewcastle

Passes: Lowton 47, Luna 28

Midline: Luna +1, Lowton even

@Norwich

Passes: Bacuna 19, Luna 18

Midline: Bacuna -12, Luna -14

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ZERO’D IN

Continence was so abundant in the midfield defending last weekend that two prolonged stretches of Norwich ball time went by without a foul from Fabian Delph, Karim El Ahmadi, Aleksandar Tonev, Andreas Weimann or Yacouba Sylla.

A slew of Norwich ball possessions midway through the first half added up to 12 minutes, 32 seconds without a foul from an AV midfieder. Later came an even longer span of 18:14.

That all contributed heavily to what was quite possibly the league’s most unique shutout victory of the campaign thus far. Just 36 percent of ball possession was handled by Villa, the lowest yet among all 26 enforces of clean sheets. Below is the full range.